Nobody said Israelis were particularly smart. Irrational fear haunts all nations:
Fully 71 percent of Israelis believe that the United States should launch a military attack on Iran if diplomatic efforts fail to halt Tehran’s nuclear program, according to a new poll.
The survey, commissioned by Bar-Ilan University’s BESA Center and the Anti-Defamation League, found that 59 percent of Israelis still believe the war in Iraq was justified, while 36 percent take the opposite view.
Some 65 percent believe that the United States is a loyal ally of Israel, with only 11 percent saying the opposite. A slightly higher proportion, 73 percent, described U.S. President George W. Bush as friendly. Forty-eight percent attributed U.S. support for Israel to strategic considerations, while 30 percent credited American Jewry and 17 percent cited shared values and a shared democratic tradition.
The fact that the Iraq war is seen as a success mirrors the delusional comments last year by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who said that the mission had brought “stability” to the region. Once again, we see the Israeli population confident acting militarily in the region without care for the consequences. Why? Undivided US support.
But it won’t last.